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Derek Champagne talks with Jason Ferguson. Jason Ferguson wasn’t supposed to make it—not out of his neighborhood, not into a Division I locker room, and definitely not to a tech IPO. But he’s never followed the script. A former University of Hawai‘i football player, Jason is now a Sales Leader, speaker, coach, and author of Nobody’s Legend, a self-help memoir rooted in truth, pain, and resilience. Raised in West Los Angeles, Jason faced violence, loss, and long odds. Football became his escape, and his obsession. Despite being undersized, he earned a full-ride scholarship through grit, vision, and relentless work. But when injuries ended his career, the identity he’d built crumbled, and he spiraled into addiction behind closed doors. Jason’s journey is one of rebuilding. From silence to significance. Today, he’s a Director of Sales at ServiceTitan, where he helped scale the company through its hypergrowth years and successful IPO. He also coaches early-stage tech founders, helping them build high-performing revenue teams and sustainable growth strategies—grounded not in theory, but lived experience. Jason speaks on emotional intelligence, mental resilience, and transforming adversity into advantage, bringing unfiltered truth to audiences ranging from students to C-suite leaders.Nobody’s Legend isn’t just a memoir. It’s a raw, unapologetic roadmap through chaos, self-destruction, and the long climb back to purpose. Told with unfiltered honesty and cinematic detail, this is the true story of a former D1 athlete who lost it all—football, identity, family, self-worth—and still found a way to rebuild from rock bottom. Jason Ferguson takes you inside the mind of an addict mid-withdrawal, a teenager chasing dreams in the unforgiving streets of L.A., and a grown man staring down the voice in his head telling him he’s not enough. What unfolds isn’t a comeback story. It’s a reintroduction to who he was always meant to be. This book goes beyond motivation. It’s about the war between your ears—the lies you believe, the doubts you feed, and the habits that either bury you or build you. Whether it’s walking into a sales job in an oversized suit with nothing to lose or running sprints up a sand dune at 4 AM chasing a vision no one else could see, Nobody’s Legend reminds you that your pain isn’t proof you're broken. It’s proof you're not done yet. It’s about mindset. It’s about radical accountability. It’s about getting hit and getting back up with your identity intact. And most of all, it’s about reminding every underdog, former screw-up, or misunderstood soul out there that you don’t have to be famous to be legendary.Order a copy of Nobody's Legend: https://jfinspires.com/book/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

NYT bestselling author Shaka Senghor talks with Derek Champagne about his personal story and his powerful new book, How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons."I love this book—because it teaches you how to manifest freedom in your own life and how that work allows you to rise to your greatest glory." —Oprah Winfrey, The Oprah Podcast After 19 years in prison—7 of them in solitary—Shaka emerged not just with a story, but with a methodology. In this book, he distills the inner work that helped him survive, heal, and grow into practical tools that anyone can apply to their own life. Because not all prisons have bars. We all live inside systems, stories, and cycles that can hold us back—doubt, fear, disconnection. And for men in particular, a flawed definition of manhood—emotional suppression, isolation, performative strength—can quietly destroy us. Shaka challenges that directly and offers a radically honest path to healing, self-trust, and real leadership. Each chapter blends hard-won wisdom with actionable steps (including “Keys to” sections at the end of each chapter that offer concrete, practical guidance), perfect for readers hungry for a path that’s real, not performative. Shaka’s work has been praised by figures ranging from Oprah to Ben Horowitz, and he’s regularly sought after by CEOs and changemakers for his insights on leadership, trust, and mindset.Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne talks with Terry Healey, author of The Resilience Mindset: How Adversity Can Strengthen, Individuals, Teams, & Leaders.A survivor of a permanent facial difference and life-threatening cancer, Terry Healey is anauthor, keynote speaker, and business strategist. Healey challenges audiences to face theiradversities and apply his framework of four key principles to gain confidence, build resilience,and find joy in their personal and professional lives.Having endured more than thirty surgical procedures to reconstruct his face while in his earlytwenties, Healey discovered tools that could help him transform his changed life. He sharesways to take control, overcome challenges, build trust and teams, embrace change, and learnthe value of acceptance and tolerance. He views the lessons he learned as gifts, and believeshis greatest reward is being able to teach others how to overcome any kind of adversity andcelebrate life.His experience led him to a successful thirty-five-year career as a high-tech sales and marketingexecutive, including being on the founding team of a company that had a successful initialpublic offering. His popular programs are presented to healthcare organizations, corporations,educational institutions, associations, and nonprofits nationwide. They include Cisco Systems,Inc., Charles Schwab, the University of California Berkeley football team, Santa Clara University,Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Genomic Health, Perkin Elmer, Stanford University, UC San Francisco,Kaiser Permanente, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center,Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and many others.A graduate of UC Berkeley, Healey is the author of The Resilience Mindset: How Adversity CanStrengthen Individuals, Teams, and Leaders [September 2025], and his previous title, At FaceValue: My Triumph over a Disfiguring Cancer, and is a contributing author to Open My Eyes,Open My Soul: Celebrating Our Common Humanity; Make Your Own Miracle: SurvivingCancer, an Anthology; and Reading Lips and Other Ways to Overcome a Disability.His work has appeared in Psychology Today, Metro UK, The San Francisco Chronicle,Guideposts, NurseWeek, U.S. News and World Report, Sales and Marketing Magazine, Copingand CURE Today. He has appeared on dozens of national and local TV networks and has beeninterviewed on more than seventy-five radio stations across the U.S. and Canada.Order a copy of The Resiliance Mindset here: https://terryhealey.com/product/the-resilience-mindset/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

 In this episode Derek talks with Melissa Proctor, Executive Vice President & CMO of the Atlanta Hawks. Melissa, the author of the book “From Ball Girl to CMO”, shares her inspiring personal story and recipes for ongoing success.BiographyMelissa Proctor began her NBA experience in highschool as the first ball girl for the Miami Heat. After highschool, she attended Wake Forest University where she got her Bachelor’s degree in communications and her masters degree in design studies/branding from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at The London Institute. After obtaining her degree, she went on to work for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. serving in senior brand development and strategy leadership positions. Proctor was with Turner for 9 years before moving on to the Atlanta Hawks as VP of brand strategy. She quickly made her way up and is now the executive vice president and chief marketing officer.Order Melissa’s new book here: https://melissamproctor.com/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne interviews Quang X. Pham. Quang is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. His inspiring American underdog journey, told in first person, is unlike any other. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Quang and his family fled as refugees when he was 10, while his father, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot, remained and was imprisoned for more than a decade. After earning a degree from UCLA, Quang served seven years on active duty, flying CH-46 helicopters in the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and the Reserves. Following his military career, Quang transitioned into business, founding multiple pharmaceutical companies. In 2000, he launched MyDrugRep.com (which became Lathian Systems), an innovative online platform for physician marketing engagements, which was later acquired. In 2015, he founded Espero Pharmaceuticals and Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals. His leadership and entrepreneurial success earned him the Florida EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. Today Quang serves as Chairman and CEO, Cadrenal Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CVKD).Quang is also the author of the award-winning father-son memoir, A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam (Penguin Random House), and his new book, Underdog Nation: Zero In on Effort and Results for Success (Forbes Books).Committed to giving back, Quang has served on the boards of private companies, veteran charities and educational organizations. He lives in Florida with his family, continuing to lead and inspire.Order Quang's new book here: https://quangxpham.com/books/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek's guest this week is Whitney Johnson: Innovation and disruption theorist, keynote speaker, best-selling author, executive and performance coach.Whitney shares her unique journey and key concepts about how to motivate your employees from her book "Build an A Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve".Whitney Johnson was named one of the world's fifty most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50 in 2017.She is the author of the bestselling Build an A Team (Harvard Business Press, 2018), a Financial Times and CEO Read, Book of the Month, and the critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work (2015). Publisher's Weekly described it as "savvy...often counter-intuitive...superb" while the Boston Globe called it the "'What Color is Your Parachute?' career guide for the entrepreneurial age."Through writing, speaking, consulting and coaching, Whitney works with leaders to retain their top talent, to build an A team, and to help them earn the gold star–be a boss people love.She formerly was the co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard's Clayton Christensen, where they invested in and led the $8 million seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $5+ billion. She was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy. During her tenure, the CAGR of the Fund was 11.98% v. 1.22% for the S&P 500.She is also formerly an award-winning Wall Street analyst. She was an Institutional Investor-ranked equity research analyst for eight consecutive years, and was rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker. As an equity analyst, stocks under coverage included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted for roughly 40% of Mexico's market capitalization.Whitney is a frequent contributor for the Harvard Business Review, she has over 1.5 million followers on Linkedin, was named one of LinkedIn's Top Voices in the Influencer category for 2018, and her LinkedIn course The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has 1 million+ views.She is a member of the original cohort of Marshall Goldsmith's #100 coaches.Learn more at https://whitneyjohnson.com/ Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne talks with Rich Horwath. Chief Executive Magazine describes Rich as "The world’s foremost expert on strategic thinking.” Rich has been featured on ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, CNN, and CNBC, and has worked with organizations such as ESPN, Google, Intel, FedEx, Bank of America, and many more. Rich is the founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he facilitates strategy workshops to help leadership teams think, plan, and act strategically to set direction, create advantage, and maximize their leadership performance. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his newest book: STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence.For free resources and to order STRATEGIC visit: https://www.strategyskills.com/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne chats with Michael Dweck. Michael, the co-founder of Basic Outfitters, was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list and has appeared on the ABC hit t.v. show Shark Tank. He talks with Derek about his entrepreneurial journey, defining success, and his experience in "the tank".In 2014, Basic Outfitters co-founders Laura and Michael Dweck married and moved into a cozy apartment in NYC. It was quickly obvious whose clothing collection would take precedence in their precious and limited closet space. Michael’s eclectic and long-time accumulated sock and underwear assortment would have to go and be replaced by a fresh, new and curated collection of basics.When it came time to refill his drawers, Michael was faced with the choice of expensive designer products or cheap, generic and poorly made basics, both of which would entail a stressful shopping experience. Michael and Laura recognized the overwhelming need for superior and affordable men’s essentials offered to customers in a convenient, easy-to-use way. And thus, Basic Outfitters was born.Learn more at www.basicoutfitters.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne talks with Lou Shipley, author of Unlikely Entrepreneurs. Lou brings more than three decades of experience in enterprise software as an executive, entrepreneur, and sales leader. Previously, Shipley was President and CEO of Black Duck Software, where he repositioned the leader in open source license and compliance software into an open source security company which led it to a successful acquisition by Synopsys. Prior to Black Duck, Shipley served as President and CEO of Turbonomic (acquired by IBM), and Reflectent Software (acquired by Citrix Systems). Shipley serves on the boards of Wasabi, Fairmarkit and CustomerGauge. He serves on the advisory boards of Exodigo, Teamworks, RapidSOS, SpoilerAlert, Tomorrow..io and Logz.io.Shipley holds a degree in Economics from Trinity College-Hartford (where he also a Trustee), and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is currently a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches four separate classes in Entrepreneurial Sales and go to market strategy.   In Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses and Crucial Advice in Building Great Companies, the authors―who hail from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management―combine expert insights, elements of the case study method, and an engaging story-telling style to take a deep dive into the key challenges that founders face. They set the stage for each profile-―including those of entrepreneurs helming billion dollar companies to mom-and-pop businesses―whose colorful, unlikely stories showcase entrepreneurial best practices that readers can adopt to succeed. Order Unlikely EntrepreneursBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne talks with Robin Farmanfarmaian. Robin  is a futurist, health technologist and author of the new book “The Patient as CEO” (available now.) She is a highly-sought public speaker and business leader who is passionate about her message that “Technology is Hope.” As a teen, Robin was misdiagnosed with an autoimmune disease that led to forty-three hospitalizations and six major surgeries – many of them ultimately unnecessary. She has literally had to fight for her life on a regular basis and has made it her mission to improve health, wellness and medicine through technology. As an entrepreneur, Robin has worked on more than 10 early-stage start-up companies all dealing with cutting-edge technology, most in medicine and biotech. In “The Patient as CEO” she reveals the growing number of breakthroughs in biomedical technology, including wearable sensors, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics and more, all set to fundamentally change healthcare and wellness. Learn more at www.robinff.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

In this episode Derek Champagne, CEO of The Artist Evolution, interviews Melissa Lay.Melissa shares how she started her unique clothing company, her experience when she found her product in Target stores nationwide, being on Shark Tank, and growing her national lifestyle brand.Learn more at www.sandilakeclothing.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

In this week’s interview, Derek Champagne talks with Shark Tank veteran Steven Sashen. Steven talks with Derek about building an international business, stepping in the Shark Tank, and even his days of stand up comedy. Steven is the developer and CEO of Xero Shoes • Your Original Barefootware – www.XeroShoes.com. Steven and his wife, Lena Phoenix, started the “Barefoot… PLUS!” sandal business in late 2009; he had returned to sprinting 2 years earlier, at age 45, and experienced almost continuous injuries. An experiment with running barefoot cured the injuries and improved his times. Knowing about the Tarahumara indians in Mexico, who run hundreds of miles in sandals made of tire scraps lashed to their feet, Steven created a high-tech upgrade of that product and launched it online. With nothing but Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing, Xero Shoes has become the best-selling running sandal in the world. Steven’s commitment is to making footwear that lets customers connect with the ground and “Feel The World,” fits perfectly, express wearer’s personalities, outlasts any other footwear, and uses fewer resources than any other footwear. He’s also committed to discovering and teaching the best techniques for teaching natural movement — for walking, hiking, and running. Prior to jumping into the sandal business, Steven was an internationally-known Internet marketing expert, Search Engine and Social Media marketing consultant, and software designer. He also co-hosted the Emmy award winning, internationally syndicated TV show, Disk Doctors. Steven is also a Masters All-American sprinter, one of the fastest 50+ year olds in the United States. Learn more at www.xeroshoes.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

In this episode, Derek interviews Shark Tank veteran Ben Zvaifler. Ben is the co founder and CEO of PupBox. PupBox landed a deal with Shark Tank personality and entrepreneur Robert Herjavec. Ben talks with Derek about his entrepreneurial journey, and how they landed a deal on Shark Tank. Learn more at www.Pupbox.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

In this episode Derek Champagne interviews Siphiwe Baleka. Fox Sports won an Emmy for Changing Lanes: The Siphiwe Baleka story.Siphiwe Baleka is the founder of Fitness Trucking, LLC and serves as the DriverHealth and Fitness Coach at Prime Inc., one of America’s largest trucking companies.His innovative, on-the-go wellness program has helped thousands of truckdrivers lose weight and reclaim their health (69% of truck drivers are obese; thetrucking industry is the least healthy of any industry in the country).His premise is that ANYONE with 4 minutes can get fit. What works for truckers can workfor any sedentary person! Formerly, Baleka served as the Driver Health Editorfor both Road King magazine and The Trucking Network magazine. After beingraised in Chicago by a single dad, he graduated from Yale University and is thefirst African American ever named to the First Team All-Ivy League Swim Team.He missed qualifying for the 1992 Olympic Swimming Trials in the 100 freestyleby just 0.8 seconds! He is the author of 4-Minute Fit (Simon & Schuster).Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Derek Champagne interviews Mike Caprari. In addition to being the stars of a highly watched episode of MSNBC's popular tv show The Profit, Mike Caprari is a passionate musician and entrepreneur. Mike is the SVP of Marketing and Co Founder of SJC Custom Drums. His product is played and endorsed by some of the world's top musicians and bands.Mike talks with us about his journey of building his business, his experience on The Profit, learning from mistakes, developing authentic customer relationships, engaging with customers on social media, and building the right team. Learn more at www.sjcdrums.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576